party's over and you don't look so good

[confidenceman]

Somewhere along the lines of learning how to live with and support an infant, Sawyer completely forgot that he was a smoker.

Well, that wasn't completely true.

He hasn't smoked regularly for years now. It wasn't a habit that Juliet was fond of, and Sawyer wasn't in the habit of denying her anything that she asked of him. He'd picked it up briefly again after her death, but in the last stretches of tumult that the island threw at them, there wasn't much time for it. Even in Darrow, he's only smoked to be social more than anything else — too many troublesome rules and laws about where they're permitted to smoke in the city for him to bother with. It's easier going without.

And when Cleo came along, well. He was too engrossed in constantly being by her side to even think about stepping away for a smoke. The rare occasions that he returned with the smell of it on his clothes from others in construction, he'd thrown those clothes directly in the hamper. Hell, if he were shaving regularly, he might even look cleaned up.

But for some reason, when he's at the grocery store today, his gaze turns towards the cigarettes. And then towards the alcohol. Would it be so bad if he bought a couple of beers? He stands in the middle of the aisle, looking slightly helpless, before a man gives him a glare for stopping right in the middle of the walkway.

"Sorry," he mutters, hanging his head briefly. "Damn it. Just hit the list and get your ass home, LaFleur."

Comments

[jianhuo]

"Well, I don't hardly know what to do with a sensible Sawyer," Saffron says, lightly teasing. "Who would've thought? But you know, stranger things have happened. And fatherhood looks good on you. Even when you're still learning the ropes."

[confidenceman]

"Hey, I have been sensible before," he says with a slight arch of his brow, though the remark is light, and not scolding in the least. There aren't many people who know about the time Sawyer spent as LaFleur. Hell, he's not even sure that he told Kara, and she was the person he'd been closest to in Darrow up until her disappearance.

It's easier to leave parts of his history behind. He's not sure what knowing about the other island's gotten him, either, aside from a mix of confusion and heartache.

"Still ain't got much of an idea what it means for the future, but day by day's... easy enough, I guess."

[jianhuo]

"Day by day's good. You just keep putting one foot in front of the other and take things as they come and before you know it, you've got six balls in the air and you aren't skipping a beat," Saffron replies encouragingly. "But speaking of sensible...I think it's a good thing I ran into you, unless you're on a tight schedule."

[confidenceman]

While Sawyer doesn't doubt that he can learn to juggle a large amount, there's a part of him that knows that without the right sort of company, he has a tendency of backsliding. Not a man best left to his own thoughts, otherwise he becomes too near-sighted, and not invested enough in what lies for him in the future.

He quirks a brow at Helen's remark.

"Yeah? Why's that?"

[jianhuo]

"Well," Saffron says, ducking her head briefly on a smile in what looks just like sheepishness, "I have a bad habit of buying a lot more groceries than I can carry. A side effect, I reckon, of having such a list of folks like you to cook for, not that I mind, of course. If you don't mind giving me a hand in getting it all home, there's a home-cooked meal in it for you."

[confidenceman]

Sawyer raises a brow. In comparison to their previous interactions, the sudden demure look is... different. Almost incongruous with the picture that he's built up of Helen in his mind. He raises a hand to rub briefly at his forehead.

"I'd be more than happy to help you carry your groceries home," he says earnestly. For all that his younger years were tumultuous, Sawyer still ended up learning the niceties and behaviors expected of him, especially down in the South. "But I don't want to add to what sounds like a long list of folks you already look out for. And I gotta get home to my girl anyway; I don't wanna keep the babysitter too long."

Brushing his hair out of the way, Sawyer gives her a more thoughtful look. "I know I ain't always been the nicest of guys, 'specially to those of y'all who know some version of me from that island. I'm tryin' to figure things out. But I still don't like owin' favors."

[jianhuo]

"You wouldn't owe me any favors," Saffron replies with a shake of her head. "I cook for people because I like doing it. I enjoy cooking, and after being on the island for years with limited resources I found myself cooking a hell of a lot more than I could eat once I was here in a place with actual grocery stores. So I figured hey, I like feeding folks anyway, might as well combine the two and then everybody wins."